Luton’s relegation is confirmed as Harry Wilson inspires Fulham to victory
Rob Edwards admitted the doubters were right about Luton after they were relegated from the Premier League after a final-day 4-2 defeat by Fulham at Kenilworth Road.
Adama Traoré opened the scoring for Fulham with Raúl Jiménez on target twice and Harry Wilson rounding things off midway through the second half. Carlton Morris, with a penalty, and Alfie Doughty scored to make it 1-1 and 2-3, but the visitors had too much.
Edwards, whose captain, Tom Lockyer, missed much of the season after a cardiac arrest at Bournemouth in December, said injuries played their part but the Luton manager acknowledged after the drop to the Championship was confirmed that the task “almost became impossible”.
“We did our all,” Edwards said. “There are reasons for it and I think in the end we were just a little bit thin. We missed him [Lockyer] and we missed a number of players as well.
“The job almost became impossible. When you have eight, nine, 10, 12, 13 players missing ... it became too much. I understand why we were the favourites to go down and ultimately people were right.”
On the future of the midfielder Ross Barkley, who has impressed since joining from Nice last summer, Edwards said: “We’ve had a chat. The fans showed their love for Ross, he’s adored by everyone here, we will see what happens. He’s contracted to the club and I expect to see him in pre-season.”
Marco Silva, the Fulham manager, confirmed after the game that the defender Tosin Adarabioyo, who is about to be out of contract and has been linked with Newcastle and Manchester United, will leave the club this summer.
“We can’t stand still at this football club as it is going to be much more competitive,” Silva said. “We are going to lose some players and one of them is clearly Tosin, who is at the end of his contract.
“For us to be at same level as a squad, we need to have a very good two months which are almost perfect.”
Silva fielded a rotated side which showed a lack of cohesion in the opening period as they struggled to get going. Luton took advantage of the Cottagers’ sloppiness and a cute chipped pass by Daiki Hashioka found the unmarked Morris, whose effort was fired at Bernd Leno’s chest from inside the six-yard area.
Wilson’s curled strike, which whistled past the left post, was all Fulham had to show for themselves as Luton continued to barrage their goal.
After Jordan Clark’s half-volley narrowly missed the target, centre-back Hashioka continued to show his attacking quality with an attempt which Fulham’s players quickly scrambled to block. Tahith Chong’s disallowed goal for offside sparked Fulham into life as they created their best chance. Traoré accelerated down the left, finding the head of Jiménez with a floated cross which the Mexico international nodded wide.
The visitors did not have to wait too much longer for the opener, though. Wilson punched a ball in between the lines into Traoré, who picked out the corner with a curled shot. Luton threw men forward from the restart and were awarded a penalty, after a VAR check when Chiedozie Ogbene was brought down by Calvin Bassey in the area. Morris claimed his 10th of the season, sending Leno the wrong way from 12 yards.
But, typical of the back-and-forth affair, Fulham grabbed another to make it 2-1 before half-time. Wilson got behind the Hatters’ back three before his pull-back was finished first-time by Jiménez.
After the break the Cottagers extended their advantage through Jiménez. Harrison Reed delivered an inch-perfect delivery from an indirect free-kick and the potent striker glanced his header past the helpless Thomas Kaminski. The Luton full-back Doughty got one back six minutes later from a driven shot, with Leno wrong-footed.
But Wilson’s stunning performance went up another notch when he got in on the act again, the Wales winger guiding the ball into the top corner from outside to seal victory.